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Benazir plan suffers a setback

— Photo: AP

Supporters of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, celebrate the announcement of her return last month.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party leader Benazir Bhutto’s planned October 18 homecoming suffered a setback on Friday with the Supreme Court admitting petitions challenging a recently proclaimed ordinance withdrawing corruption cases against her among others, but her party reiterated that her schedule remained unchanged.

The National Reconciliation Ordinance was a quid pro quo by President Pervez Musharraf for the PPP’s tacit support to his October 6 election. Protected by the ordinance, Ms. Bhutto expected to return to Pakistan free from fears of arrest to lead her party in the general elections as a necessary prelude to a power-sharing arrangement with Gen. Musharraf in a new dispensation.

But five petitioners appealed to the Supreme Court to strike it down on the grounds that it is discriminatory. Mubashir Hussain, a founder member of the Pakistan People’s Party and Finance Minister in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government, Jamat-i-islami leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader Nawaz Sharif’s brother Shahbaz are among the five petitioners who have challenged the ordinance.

Admitting the petitions, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary observed that all actions taken under the ordinance are subject to the court’s decision on the petitions, to be heard by a larger bench after three weeks. The date is not yet fixed, nor the number of judges on the bench.

“Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto is coming back in any case, ordinance or no ordinance,” said Babar Awan, a leader of the party.

“Let the court take up the petitions. This is the court that knows that amnesty was granted to Nawaz Sharif who was convicted, and to [nuclear scientist] AQ Khan,” said Mr. Awan at a press conference after the court decided to take up the petitions.

He was referring to the presidential pardon that allowed Mr. Sharif to escape a life sentence for a 10-year exile in Saudi Arabia in 2000, a year after he was ousted from power by Gen. Musharraf. In 2004, Gen. Musharraf pardoned Mr. Khan after he confessed to selling the country’s nuclear secrets abroad.

The Supreme Court decision adds another element of uncertainty to the situation in the country, with Gen. Musharraf also awaiting the court’s verdict on the legality of his candidacy in the just-concluded presidential election.

Earlier this week, he suggested that Ms. Bhutto should put off her return until the court decision on his election, which was turned down by the PPP as “uncalled for” advice.

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